Libertyville earns 2nd final in 3 yearsWittenbrink, Rasmussen score in win over Bradley-Bourbonnais

By Mike Garofola

HOFFMAN ESTATES -- There was enough firepower on the rosters of Bradley-Bourbonnais and Libertyville to light up the Garber Stadium neighborhood when these two soccer powers took center state in the first Class 3A state semifinal Friday at Hoffman Estates High School.

Advocates of more scoring in the sport had to be drooling over the possibilities of a 4-3, or 5-4 type of contest.

But those in the know realize offense may win games, but it's defense that wins championships. In this game, it was defense that helped Libertyville advance, while first-class work in goal gave Bradley-Bourbonnais its chance.

Top-flight scorers Ryan Wittenbrink, of Libertyville, and Nicholas Markanich, of Bradley-Bourbonnais, added to their extraordinary goal totals with first half strikes, but it was the defensive strength of Libertyville which proved the difference in a 2-1 victory for the Wildcats.

"Though we've scored a lot of goals this season, we've come to depend on our backline so many times," said Wittenbrink, whose equalizer in the 30th minute was his 39th of the campaign. "(They) are a confident unit back there. And tonight, they once again proved to be the main reason for our win.

"Bradley scored a great first goal of the game -- (kind) of a wake-up goal for us. But we responded well to the challenge, created a bunch of chances to get back even before going ahead for good. (But) as I said, that defense always come through in big games, and tonight was a big game."

The Wildcats (20-0-2) will look to lift the championship trophy for the second time in three years. They won it all in 2015 when Wittenbrink was a sophomore and scored both goals in a 2-1 title win against Quincy.

"The first half today, in particular, was a real battle with both teams looking to get the ball to their offensive stars," admitted first-year Wildcats manager Kevin Thunholm, who was an assistant under Hall of Fame manager Andy Bitta when the 'Cats won their last title. "For us, Bourbonnais was a scary bunch for us to keep under control

"(They) were capable of doing a lot of very good things with their attack. But after giving up that first goal off that set piece, we settled in and began to manage things really well. And once again, it was our backline who took control of things, which allowed our attack to gain confidence and just go at them."

On most occasions, Libertyville's back four, led by seniors Nathan Pacholski and Will Powers, will jump into the attack to add numbers and pace, but on this night the unit sat back a little more than usual. It was organized and well sorted out to keep the high-flying twin brothers Anthony and Nicholas Markanich in view.

"We knew if we kept their top guys from either creating or getting good chances, that with Ryan, Evan (Rasmussen) and our offense, we could put a couple of goals in, which would be enough to win," said junior Mason Williams, who along with Grant Herbek rounded out the stingy bunch in front of Wildcats keeper Thomas Pearson.

For the Boilermakers (18-4-1) the loss sent them into the third place game for the second-consecutive time. They fell to defending state champion Naperville North one year ago.

It should be noted that the Boilermakers were undermanned on defense because senior captain Brandon Wray and classmate Benjamin Kuxmann were on the bench after each was sent off during Bradley-Bourbonnais' supersectional PK win over Normal earlier in the week.

"Losing those two players forced us to put one of the best midfielders in the state into our backline, which changed things in our attack," said assistant coach Marty Ruberry.

Manager Rohan Robinson deployed senior Efrain Davila III as an outside back, and moved Anthony Markanich (40 goals) into the role of playmaker. That's the spot , where Davila III has thrived and recorded more than 100 helpers during the past two seasons for the Boilermakers.

Despite the position change, Davila III still made his presence felt when he whipped in a corner to the six-yard box where Nicholas Markanich redirected his header into the far inside netting to stun the big crowd just five minutes into the game.

"Conceding that goal wasn't a bad thing -- especially so early in the contest," said Thunholm. "But we will definitely talk about dead ball, and set piece opportunities before we play in the championship game tomorrow night."

Libertyville roared back from its early error and put together a string of quality chances, all of which were stopped by Boilermakers' keeper Andrew Seyden, who for his superb 80-minute effort was named Chicagoland Soccer's Man of the Match.

"That first goal of ours kind of opened things up for us," said Rasmussen, a junior. "And we thought we had a few others before and after that, but their keeper was amazing tonight, and he kept them in the game all the way through."

There were three or four instances in which Seyden made brilliant sequence saves. The first pair came in the 14th minute when a marvelous kick save stopped Riley Hoff before Rasmussen's close-range header was turned up and over the bar.

Wittenbrink stung the gloves of Seyden with his well-aimed and paced free kick in the 19th minute as the pressure continued to come from a now rampant Libertyville attack.

Much of the reason for this impressive stretch of attacking football was thanks to the Wildcats outside players Hoff and Tanner Kelly, whose incredible pace and work rate helped stretch the Boilermakers in their own end and slowly wore them down as the match went deeper into the night.

"Riley and Tanner never stop running," said Thunholm. "They've done that all year, but in the playoffs they have really stepped up their game. I have no doubt they made a big difference in the way we attacked and with the way Bradley was forced to defend."

The Indiana-bound Wittenbrink brought the large orange section of the audience to its feet when he ran onto Greg Krikorian free kick and bent it in brilliantly to level things on the stroke of the half hour.

As a point of reference, the lefty Krikorian has been a deadly provider in most of the Wildcats set piece and dead ball chances throughout the playoffs. The senior midfielder once again made his imprint in this game with his 11th assist of the season.

Just after the intermission, Libertyville fans thought their heroes were on the brink when Wittenbrink had the chance to attack 1-v.-1 versus Seyden, but the Boilermakers' keeper alertly and decisively came off his line to parry away a troublesome ball just off the foot of the senior.

Moments later, Wittenbrink's crafty little chip likely wrong-footed a surprised Rasmussen, who was unable to get enough pace on a ball that Seyden ended up saving easily.

However, the Boilermakers' senior could do nothing but listen to Rasmussens' right-footed 22-yard bomb explode into the back of the net to give the Wildcats the lead for good in the 61st minute.

"(Bradley-Bourbonnais) sagged off of me just long enough to create some space for me. When I called for the ball from Hoff, he just put it on my foot, and I knew I should just go for it," said Rasmussen of his 18th goal of the season.

Libertyville did a wonderful job of managing its newfound lead, keeping the opportunities of build-up by the Boilermakers to almost none while preventing Davila to connect services out of the back to Bradley-Bourbonnais' goal-scoring stars.

The Boilermakers' brass moved Davila III into the middle 10 minutes from time. But by then, the constant threat of the Wildcats finding and connecting with Wittenbrink and Rasmussen on the counter kept them from pushing too many numbers forward in the search to equalize.

"It made a big difference for us tonight NOT to have Davila III in the middle," said Ruberry. "Seyden was phenomenal for us, and he showed why he's among the best in the state at his position."

Libertyville fulfilled its mission with the win.

"We made a couple of adjustments at the break and thought we played a very strong second half of soccer to get the result we wanted," said a proud Thunholm.

Added Wittenbrink: "It was a great win for us and a great game to be a part of.

"It was well officiated. The referee did a good job and was easy to talk to. And we were very good when we had to be. It's on to the state final, which is something we've all been talking about for a long time."